Aerosol device



Jan. 10, 1967 V. F. PUNGITORE AEROSOL DEVICE Filed Deo. 51, 1964 ORNEY United States Patent() 3,297,209 AEROSOL DEVICE Vincent F. Pungitore, 945 E. 214th St., Bronx, N.Y. 10467 Filed Dec. 31, 1964, Ser. No. 422,778 3 Claims. (Cl. 222-132) This invention relates to aerosol spray devices; more particularly, this invention relates to atomizers and sprayers utilizing pre-pressurized spray containers.

One object of the present invention is to provide a prepressurized aerosol device which can be used to atomize and spray a selected one of a plurality of liquids such as perfumes.

Another object of the present invention is to provide such a device which is relatively inexpensive to manufacure, is reliable in operation, and is pleasing in appearance so that it can be readily marketed as a low-cost, throw-away household multi-fragrance perfume spray device.

'Ihe drawings and description that follow describe the invention and indicate some of the ways in which it can be used. In addition, some of the advantages provided by the invention will be pointed out.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a partially cross-sectional front elevation view of an aerosol device constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the device shown in FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a partially cross-sectional side elevation 'View of the device shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4 4 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5--5 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 6 is a cross-sectional side elevation view of another device constructed in accordance with the present invention; and

FIGURE 7 is a cross-sectional View taken along line 7 7 of FIGURE 6. i

The embodiments of the invention shown in the drawings are intended to be used primarily for the atomizing and spraying of one of more different perfumes from a single unit. However, it should be understood that devices of the present invention can be utilized to spray different liquids of types other than perfumes.

The aerosol device 10 shown in FIGURES 1 through 5 utilizes a standard pre-pressurized spray container 12 (shown broken-away in FIGURES 1 and 3) which has a spout 14 which may be pressed downwardly to actuate a spring-return valve in the container and release pressurized gas and liquid from the container through the spout 14.

In accordance with the present invention, a multiplecompartment atomizer cap 16 is provided for the device 10. The cap 16 includes an outer housing 1S which is secured at its lower edge to the rim of the container 12. A piston-like compartment structure 20 is slidably mounted in housing 18.

Compartment structure 20 has a central recess 22 in its bottom wall which ts over the end of spout 14. The structure 20 forms two separate compartments 24 and 26 with a central dividing wall 28. A cover plate 30 is secured to the top of structure 20 and covers the com- 3,297,209 Patented Jan. 10, 1967 ICC partments. Cover plate 30 has a centrally-located stern 32 which protrudes upwardly through a hole in the upper wall of the housing 18. Plate 30 is forced upwardly against the upper wall of housing 18 by the container valve spring which thrusts upwardly on spout 14 of the container 12. By pressing downwardly on the plunger 32, the operator may selectively release pressurized gas and liquid from the container 12 through spout 14.

Each compartment 24 and 26 has an exit hole in its bottom which communicates with an exit passageway 34 or 36 in the bottom wall of the compartment structure 20. Passageways 34 and 36 meet as they leave the compartment structure 20. A hole 3S inthe housing 18 completes the exit passageway for liquids to flow from the compartments 24 and 26 to the exterior of the cap 16.

A third passageway 4t) in the bottom wall of structure 20 leads from the cavity 22 to the point at which passageways 34 and 36 meet. Thus, passageway 40 carries compressed gas and liquid emitted from spout 14 to the meeting point of passageways 34 and 36 adjacent the exterior of the cap 16.

The outlet holes for compartments 24 and 26 are closed, respectively, by valve members 42 and 44 Whose conical lower ends it into similarly-shaped valve seats. Valve members 42 and 44 are secured to the cover plate 30 by means of resilient sealing members 46 and 48 and protrude upwardly through holes in the top wall of housing 18.

Referring now to FIGURE 4, a spray selector knob 50 is provided at the top of the cap 16. Selector knob S0 comprises a selector housing 52 which is rotatably mounted on the top wall of housing 18. Housing 52 has a central hole through which plunger 32 extends, and has a thin-walled flexible recessed portion 54 positioned adjacent the uppermost end of plunger 32 to provide a exible cover for the selector mechanism in housing 52 which can be pushed downwardly to depress plunger 32.

As is best seen in FIGURE 4, the bottom wall of housing 52 has a pair of arcuate slots 56 and 58 into which are tted, respectively, the upper ends of valve members 42 and 44. Each of the slots 56 and 58 has a relatively wide inner portion and a relatively narrow end portion. When the selector knob 59 is turned either to the left or to the right, the edges of the narrow portion of one of the slots 56 or 58 engages with grooves at the upper end of stem 42 or 44 to hold it locked to the bottom of housing 52 and housing 18. At the same time, the other valve member is located within the wide portion of its slot and is free to move with respect to the housings 52 and 18 since that portion of the slot is so wide that its edges do not engage the groove in the other valve member.

When the selector housing 52 is turned to the central position shown in FIGURES 2 and 4, both valve members 42 and 44 are located in the wide portions of their respective slots, and both valves are free to move up and down with respect to the housings 52 and 18.

As is shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, vent holes 60 and 62 are provided in cover plate 30 to allow air to ow into compartments 24 and 26 to replace liquids as they leave the compartments. A vent-hole closure or stopper member projects from the lower surface of the upper Wall of the housing 18 and mates With a correspondinglyshaped valve seat to close each vent hole 60 and 62 when the cover plate 30 is thrust upwardly against the lower surface of the upper wall of the housing 18.

The above-described aerosol device operates as follows: With the selector knob S turned either to the left or to the right (for example, as shown in FIGURE 2, to select either Floral or Pine fragrance), one of the valve members 42 or 44 will be held securely to the housing 18. When the plunger 32 is pressed downwardly, the seat for the valve which is held will move away from the valve member and liquid will flow from one of the compantments 24 or 26 through passage 34 or 36 to be atomized. Simultaneously, pressurized gas and liquid will be emitted from spout 14, through passageway 40, and will draw liquid from passageway 34 or 36 as it rushes past the exit of that passageway. Thus, a mixture of the liquid in the container 12 with that in the compartment 24 or 26 will be finely atomized and sprayed into the atmosphere.

If desired, the selector 50 can be turned to the neutral position (marked Natural in FIGURE 2) to allow only the liquid stored in the container 12 to be sprayed into the atmosphere. Preferably, this liquid has no particular fragrance of its own but acts as a deodorizer or the like.

The vent holes 60 and 62 advantageously are closed at all times except when a liquid is being sprayed. Thus, volatile liquids such as perfumes and cologne waters are prevented from evaporating while the device is not 1n use.

FIGURES 6 and 7 illustrate another embodiment of the invention which is substantially the same as that shown in FIGURES 1 through 5. One difference is that in the FIGURES 6 and 7 embodiment the compartment structure 20 is a component separate from the base member 64 through which the gas outlet passage 40 passes. Base plate 64 can slide up and down in housing 18, but cannot rotate. However, compartment structure 20 is both slidable and rotatable in the housing 18. Structure 20 and block 64 are maintained in alignment with one another by means of a circular tongue and groove arrangement 66.

Another difference is that in the FIGURES 6 and 7 embodiment the compartment exit passages pass through the lower corner of compartment structure 20 and the valve members 42 and 44 are not used. Instead, the housing 18 has a vertical groove 68 communicating with hole 38 so that when either passageway 34 or 36 is aligned with groove 68 a complete liquid passageway is formed for delivering the liquid from the selected compartment to hole 38 where the pressurized gas flowing from passageway 40 atomizes and sprays the liquid outwardly.

A knob 70 is made integral with cover plate 30 and can be used to rotate compartment structure 20 to one of three positions in which either passageway 34 or passageway 36, or neither passageway is aligned with groove 68. Whichever passageway 34 or 36 is not aligned with groove 68 is blocked by housing 18 so that liquid cannot flow from it, and liquid will tlow only from the hole properly aligned with groove 68. Of course, if neither passageway 34 nor 36 is aligned with groove 68, only the liquid in the container 12 will be atomized and sprayed from .the device.

The vent-holes 60 and 62 in compartments 24 and 26 normally are located at a position above a hole 72 in housing 18. Thus, the air vents normally are blocked by the housing 18 and, since air cannot get into the cornpartment to replace the liquid leaving it, liquid cannot leave the compartment even though passageway 34 or 36 is aligned with groove 68. However, when the user of the device presses down on knob 70, vent-hole 60 or 62 is aligned with hole 72 and liquid is allowed to flow from the corresponding compartment 24 or 26 to groove 68 to be atomized.

All of the components of the cap structure 16 advantageously are made of plastic such as polyethylene or the like. However, they can be made of metal or any other suitable material.

The above-described cap aerosol device provides, in a single, neat convenient, and inexpensive package, a spray device which can be used to spray any one of several different perfume fragrances. The cap can be made economically so that it can be thrown away with the pressurized container when the supply of gas and liquid is exhausted. Advantageously, since the perfumed liquids are mixed with the liquid from the container when being sprayed, a relatively small volume of perfume is required to provide a relatively large volume of perfumed mist.

The above description of the invention is intended to be illustrative and not limiting. Various changes or modiiications in the embodiments described may occur to those skilled in the art and these can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.

I claim:

1. An aerosol device for use with a pre-pressurized container having an outlet spout, said outlet spout also serving as a valve stem actuatable to release pressurized gas from said container through said spout, said device comprising, in combination, a multi-compartment atomizer cap for said container, said cap having an internal piston structure forming two liquid-holding compartments for containing two different volatile aromatic liquids to be atomized, said pressurized container being adapted to hold a third different liquid to be atomized, said compartments having a common bottom wall with rst and second exit passageways, each passageway leading from one of said compartments to a common position at the exterior of said cap, a third passageway leading from said spout to said common position, said third passageway meeting said rst and second passageways at an angle, said cap having an outer housing fastened onto said container with said piston being slidably mounted in said housing so as to engage said valve stem to release said pressurized gas into said third passageway, iirst and second valve members, each normally held in position to close the entrance to one of said iirst and second passageways, each of said valve members having a groove in it, a slotted selector plate rotatably secured to said housing and having a pair of slots of varying width, each slot being narrow in a iirst portion so that it engages one of said valve members in said groove and being wide in a second portion so as not to so engage one of said valve members, said selector plate being rotatable to selectively engage and hold one of said valve members while said piston structure moves away from said valve member, thus opening the entrance to one of said passageways, an air vent hole in a wall of said compartments, a stop member for each of said vent holes, each of said stop members being secured to said housing and normally closing one of said vent holes.

2. An aerosol device for use with a pre-pressurized container having an outlet spout, said device comprising, in combination, a multi-compartment atomizer cap for said container, said cap having a plurality of separate liquid-holding compartments, irst conduit means selectively operable for guiding the liquid from a pre-selected one of said compartments to a position adjacent the exterior of said cap and beyond the contines of said cap, second conduit means for guiding pressurized gas from said container to said position, said second conduit means being adapted to guide said gas with respect to said rst conduit means so as to tend to draw liquid from said first conduit means and atomize and spray said liquid from said cap, means for providing an air vent passageway to each of said compartments from which liquid flows and is atomized, but only while said liquid is owing from said compartment, and container valve means for selectively releasing quantities of said pressurized gas from said container.

3. An aerosol device for use with a pre-pressurized container having an outlet spout, said device comprising, in combination, a multi-compartment atomizer cap for said container, said cap having a plurality of separate liquidholding compartments, first conduit means selectively operable for guiding the liquid from a pre-selected one of said compartments to a position adjacent the exterior of said cap and beyond the contines of said cap, said tirst conduit means including a passageway leading from each of said compartments to the exterior of said cap, and selector valve means operable at the exterior of said cap for selectively blocking7 at least one of said passageways,

second conduit means for guiding pressurized gas from 5 said container to said position, said second conduit means being adapted to guide said gas with respect to said rst conduit means so as to tend to draw liquid from said rst conduit means and atomize and spray liquid from said cap, and spring-actuated container valve means for selectively releasing quantities of said pressurized gas from said container, said selector valve means utilizing the spring force of said container Valve means to maintain said passageways normally closed.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,148,047 2/1939 Epstein 222-1445 3,110,423 11/1963 Hegedic et al 222-193 FOREIGN PATENTS 622,420 6/1961. Canada.

10 ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner.

HADD S. LANE, Examiner. 

2. AN AEROSOL DEVICE FOR USE WITH A PRE-PRESSURIZED CONTAINER HAVING AN OUTLET SPOUT, SAID DEVICE COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A MULTI-COMPARTMENT ATOMIZER CAP FOR SAID CONTAINER, SAID CAP HAVING A PLURALITY OF SEPARATE LIQUID-HOLDING COMPARTMENTS, FIRST CONDUIT MEANS SELECTIVELY OPERABLE FOR GUIDING THE LIQUID FROM A PRE-SELECTED ONE OF SAID COMPARTMENTS TO A POSITION ADJACENT THE EXTERIOR OF SAID CAP AND BEYOND THE CONFINES OF SAID CAP, SECOND CONDUIT MEANS FOR GUIDING PRESSURIZED AS FROM SAID CONTAINER TO SAID POSITION, SAID SECOND CONDUIT MEANS BEING ADAPTED TO GUIDE SAID GAS WITH RESPECT TO SAID FIRST CONDUIT MEANS SO AS TO TEND TO DRAW LIQUID FROM SAID FIRST CONDUIT MEANS AND ATOMIZE AND SPRAY SAID LIQUID FROM SAID CAP, MEANS FOR PROVIDING AN AIR VENT PASSAGEWAY TO EACH OF SAID COMPARTMENTS FROM WHICH LIQUID FLOWS AND IS ATOMIZED, BUT ONLY WHILE SAID LIQUID IS FLOWING FROM SAID COMPARTMENT, AND CONTAINER VALVE MEANS FOR SELECTIVELY RELEASING QUANTITIES OF SAID PRESSURIZED GAS FROM SAID CONTAINER. 